Ucis

IRVINE — First-year UC Irvine baseball coach Mike Gillespie has seen it all season long. And though it never gets old, the consistent pitching mastery of junior All-American Scott Gorgen never ceases to amaze his veteran skipper, who coached the likes of Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito at USC. “His command was not what we’re used to seeing through three innings,” Gillespie said. “But when you look up [at the scoreboard] at the end, there’s not a lot of hits [for the opposition]

UC Irvine received a tentative grant of $3.3 million on Friday to expand its stem-cell training program. The university will receive the money when the state’s financial situation improves. The grant will enable UCI’s training program to recruit more clinical researchers alongside doctoral and postdoctoral scientists. “Our program will train a new type of researcher who has the ability to cross disciplines,” said Peter Donovan, director of UCI’s training program and co-director of the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, in a prepared statement.

UC Irvine will bestow its highest honor, The Medal, to four people who have contributed to the university’s mission, spirit and vision tonight in an Orange County marquee event. The “Celebration of the Stars” will honor Gavin Herbert, founder and former chief executive of Allergan, Inc., a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device firm in Irvine. Herbert was instrumental in forming the university’s Department of Opthalmology. UCI’s winningest water polo coach, Edward Newland, will also be recognized.

UC Irvine’s new nursing science director would like to see UCI offer a master’s degree for nurses and possibly create new majors in cooperation with other schools. Ellen Olshansky took over UCI’s 1-year-old nursing school on Wednesday. She stressed the importance of producing more nursing students to fix the state’s nurse shortage. “California is desperate for nurses,” said Rick Martin, senior vice president of patient care and services at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

It was supposed to be a parade of golf carts to celebrate UCI homecoming, but perhaps the biggest attraction at the pageant wasn’t on wheels. They got around on their feet and their, well, hands, too. Still, B-Boys Anonymous riled up the crowd with some break dancing Monday afternoon. “Today you’re going to see some breakin’ and some rappin’ and some breakin’ and some scratchin’ and some breakin’ and some poppin’ and some breakin’ and some lockin’,” said the B-Boys emcee before starting the group’s hip-hop soundtrack.

Local theatergoers have been exposed to a wide variety of plays from William Shakespeare, both in the comic and tragic veins, but some — such as “Measure for Measure” — are rarely, if ever, produced. UCI’s drama department has resurrected one of Shakespeare’s most enigmatic and inaccessible plays and demonstrates just why, despite some sterling performances, “Measure for Measure” is pretty much avoided. Director Phil Thompson — in his modern-dress, almost futuristic staging — draws a parallel between the sexual hypocrisy of the Bard’s work and the chicanery prevalent in high government circles today.

Deidre Haren is following in Jo March’s footsteps this fall. Haren, 21, who plays the tomboyish, literary lead in UCI’s upcoming musical production of the classic 1869 Louisa May Alcott novel “Little Women,” will go to New York City to pursue her dream of acting on Broadway. “Little Women” tells the story of a family of four daughters — Jo, sentimental Meg, sweet-but-frail Beth and grandiloquent Amy — who cope, along with their mother, Marmee, while their father is away during the Civil War serving as a chaplain.

The women's soccer and volleyball teams at UC Irvine are gearing up for the start of their respective seasons next month with optimism. And though the two programs eat, drink, breathe and train in Irvine, they are coming from decidedly different places. UCI's women's volleyball team fell to 8-22 last season, 3-13 in the Big West Conference, in Coach Paula Weishoff's second season leading the program. It begins the season Aug. 26 in the Aztec Invitational, where it will play San Diego State, Nevada and Portland.

Just a month away from their graduation, three dozen of UCI’s first nursing school graduates just learned their program is now nationally accredited, university officials announced Tuesday. The Program in Nursing Science now has an accredited bachelor’s of science program thanks to the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education, the commission assigned to ensure quality and integrity in university nursing education programs, officials said. UCI’s nursing science program was established in 2005 in the university’s College of Health Sciences and has 160 students.

UC Irvine junior point guard Kirian Ishizaki earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors in women’s basketball after a career-high performance at Loyola Marymount Saturday. Ishizaki scored a career-high 15 points in UCI’s 66-54 loss to the Lions in UCI’s only game of the week. She scored 12 points in an 18-8 run that brought the Anteaters within one point with four minutes remaining in the game. Ishizaki scored the first nine points in that run in just more than two minutes to spark UCI after the Anteaters managed just five points in the first 11 minutes of the half.

BASEBALL UC Irvine 3, UC Santa Barbara 2 Junior third baseman Taylor Sparks' two-out single in the bottom of the eighth drove in the winning run for the host Anteaters, who extended their Big West Conference winning streak to 11 on Saturday. UCI (31-14, 13-1 in conference), ranked No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball, has now won six straight games. The Anteaters, who began the day 1.5 games ahead of second-place Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, clinched the series victory against the Gauchos (26-13)

As the son of former UC Santa Barbara baseball coach Bob Brontsema, UC Irvine freshman John Brontsema lugged bats back to the Gauchos' dugout for most of his childhood. Friday night, however, it was his ability to swing one that helped the Anteaters defeat the Gauchos. The younger Brontsema, who chipped in a stellar defensive play at second base, went two for four with an run-producing triple in UCI's 6-2 win to open a three-game Big West Conference series at Anteater Ballpark. The win was the fifth straight for the 'Eaters (30-14, 12-1 in conference)

UC Irvine junior libero Michael Brinkley and senior middle blocker Scott Kevorken have been named All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn. Brinkley was named first-team All-American for the second consecutive year. He becomes the third Anteater to earn first-team accolades twice in a career, joining Carson Clark (2010, 2012) and Kevin Tillie (2012, 2013). The libero averaged 2.52 digs per set and recorded double-figure digs 13 times this season, including a season-high 18 in a three-set win over Long Beach State on March 28. Brinkley, the only UCI player to play in every set this year, ranks second all-time in UCI digs.

Mariners Elementary students greeted UC Irvine basketball players Wednesday afternoon with about as much fanfare as one might expect if a teenage pop sensation visited the Newport Beach campus. The students clamored around the college athletes for their chance at an autograph and, if they were lucky, a selfie with one of the basketball players. Six men and women from UCI's basketball programs visited the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade classes at the Newport Beach elementary school to talk about sports and the importance of earning a degree.

WOMEN'S WATER POLO UC Irvine 11, Cal State Northridge 4 LONG BEACH — The top-seeded Anteaters earned their fifth Big West Conference tournament title by thumping the Matadors in the final on Sunday at Long Beach State. Hannah Groghan led the winners (24-7) with four goals to capture tournament MVP honors and senior Jessy Cardey scored twice to move atop the school's all-time scoring list with 218 goals. Cardey's total is one more than Robyn Kaake, who completed her career in 2007.

Ashley Merrill, Mackenzie Piper and Olivia Montgomery have signed scholarship agreements with the UC Irvine women's basketball program, head coach Doug Oliver recently announced. Merrill, a 6-1 guard, transfers to UCI from the University of Arizona. She played in 17 games for the Wildcats, averaging 4.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. She had a season-best 13 points in 28 minutes against Iona. Merrill was prepped at Corona Centennial High, where she was a McDonald's All-American nominee.

UCI's In recognized UC Irvine freshman Kaley In was named second-team All-Big West Conference by women's golf coaches. In, who leads the Anteaters with a 76.0 scoring average over 22 rounds, has two top-10 finishes, including leading UCI with a seventh place performance at the Big West Championships. UCI senior Ronnie Valerio received honorable mention. — From staff reports — OCC divers shine Orange Coast College sophomore Rae Adams won the one- and three-meter events at both the Orange Empire Conference and Southern California women's diving championships recently.

LONG BEACH - Water polo can be an inexact science, but when you play defense like the UC Irvine women's team, the math usually adds up in your favor. The top-seeded Anteaters gave up just one goal each half against host Long Beach State on Saturday to earn a 5-2 victory in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Tournament. The win propelled the No. 6-ranked Anteaters (23-7) into Sunday's championship game against No, 9-ranked Cal State Northridge. The winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.